A Bright Stain on the Vision
by zeppx
Summary: For Susangel and her request. Just...Cas suffering. All this is. There's a larger explanation inside. But, just...suffering and fluff here. That is all, also set in my verse, but for the most part can kind of be stand alone.
1. Chapter 1

So, **Susangel** asked (begged, pleaded and puppy dog eyed me) for a fic based on the migraines Cas gets in my little (big) 'verse. So, I finally wrote her a few since she asked for a whole series and multi-chaptered thing. I have two and half of a third written.

So I sent them to her and then she bugged, poked and pestered me to post them since apparently it's awesome. So here it is. All this whole little series will be is Cas dealing with migraines in various situations and from different peoples POVs. It takes place in my 'verse at different points in time, I'll try to keep it as stand alone as possible for the people who haven't read it (which I don't think is anyone since the people who read me have apparently read _everything_ I've written. Which is awesome by the way.)

So! Here it is, Cas suffering.

Are you happy now **Susangel**?

* * *

It had been three weeks since the end of the apocalypse that wasn't; they'd spent the last week at Bobby's, Sam having convinced Dean it was the easiest place to help Cas adjust to being human. The other two weeks had been spent raiding thrift stores for clothes for Cas; if he was going to be human, he needed more than the suit and trench coat.

Bobby spent his time with Cas teaching him how to cook, what was acceptable to eat, and what wasn't acceptable. Sam taught Cas how to use the computer and internet; he also took Cas into town with him to the library and other stores to help Cas figure out what it was he liked doing with his free time and what he didn't like.

Dean of course took Cas to bars, claiming the former angel finally needed to get laid to truly enjoy the human experience. Cas, naturally, didn't go for any of it and simply enjoyed spending the time with Dean and learning, the next day that hangovers weren't actually all that fun.

It was on the third week that Gabriel appeared in the living room, Bobby shot him and Sam stabbed him, Dean cursed a blue streak and Cas simply remained seated on the couch, reading his book as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.

After repairing the bullet holes and stab wounds Gabriel plopped down on the couch next to Cas, tossed an arm over his shoulders and asked, "How's humanity treating you?"

A page turned, "Fine."

"Good, glad to hear it."

Another page turned.

"What do you want Gabriel?" Dean sat himself down on the other side of Cas and glared at the archangel, then turned to Cas and asked, "Why are you not surprised to see him? Last you knew he was dead."

"I was not the only one brought back."

"Yep, when Cas decided he wanted to come and play in the dirt instead, dear old Dad needed someone to keep order in Heaven, he needed a trustworthy angel and I happened to earn that right when I sacrificed myself for you chumps."

"Great, Trickster is running Heaven." Bobby grumbled from behind his desk, still glaring at Gabriel much like Sam and Dean were. Cas just seemed unconcerned with it all.

"Anyway, I just came to check up on my little bro here. Make sure everything was ticking smoothly in that body of yours."

"I'm fine Gabriel."

"Good! That's good. If you find yourself you know, _not fine_ just call me!" With that, Gabriel vanished, leaving them all to wonder what the hell he had meant.

Exactly a week later they found out what Gabriel had been talking about.

It had started out like any other day, everyone but Cas woke up in the morning, plans for the day already being discussed in the kitchen and the smell of coffee permeating the air. When Cas finally joined them close to noon, he complained about his head hurting a little, so Dean gave him some Advil and that was that.

A couple hours later when Cas complained about the room being too bright, it was Sam that asked if the Advil had helped. Cas shook his head and his eyes squeezed shut, a hand going up to rub at a temple. Sam saw the warning signs, he had suffered with these sort of things before, so he knew, he understood what was about to happen. So he ushered Cas upstairs, pulled the blinds down over the window and tacked up a heavy blanket to block out as much light as possible. He forced Cas to lie down in bed and told him not to move, told him he was going to run into town to get him some stronger medicine that would help him with the pain better than Advil would.

When Sam returned with a bag full of items from the drugstore in town, Dean was in a panic and Bobby was already researching.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked, looking at Dean pacing and then to Bobby who was flipping through his books.

"What's wrong? _What's wrong_ is that Cas is upstairs, clutching his head, moaning and rocking back and forth like he lost his damn mind!"

"He's got a migraine Dean, like I used to get after my visions, remember?"

"Cas doesn't get visions." Sam rolled his eyes at his brother, "Migraines don't just happen because of visions idiot." Sam headed up the stairs to Cas' room, Dean following him.

"You knew this was going to happen?"

"No, but earlier when he had a headache and then light sensitivity and the Advil not helping I kind of pieced it together, it's kind of what I went through." Sam let himself in Cas' room as quietly as possible; Cas was curled up on his bed, heels of his palms pressed against his eyes. Sam immediately felt for him, Cas had yet to experience pain as a human. Sam didn't know how angel's felt pain, but Cas hadn't felt anything like the steady throbbing pain that was currently ripping through his skull.

Sam pulled a bottle of Gatorade from his bag, followed with Excedrin, "Here Cas, take these, they'll help better than the Advil will." Cas unfolded himself a little, blindly accepted the two pills from Sam and swallowed them down with a wince.

"Lay on your stomach Cas, that helps sometimes." Cas nodded and did as Sam instructed, laying on his stomach and pressing his face into his pillow. Sam pulled a hot pack from his bag of goodies, shook it a few times to get it working and laid it across the back of Cas' neck. Sam hadn't been sure if cold or hot would work best for Cas so he'd gotten both. It only took a few moments before Cas was reaching back and pulling the hot pack off his neck with a groaned, "Worse."

"Alright, we'll try the cold one then." Sam cracked it, waited until he felt it chilling in his hands and laid it in the same place the heat pack had been. Dean watched it all with worry in his eyes, looking like he wanted to pace but wasn't sure if the sound would cause Cas greater pain or not. He could remember Sam's pain after his visions, how they had left Sam and mess on the bed, groaning at loud noises and bright lights.

Cas let out a relieved whimper as the cold settled in, he relaxed marginally but the rigid set of his shoulders and the straight set of his spine gave him away.

Gabriel popped into the room, gave Cas' back a worried glance before resting two fingers against his temple, Cas immediately loosened with sleep, "Was hoping he wouldn't have to go through this."

"You knew this would happen?" Dean turned his anger on Gabriel; he wanted to punch the asshole but knew that would only end up breaking his hand and that wasn't really something he wanted to deal with right now.

Gabriel snapped his fingers and the three found themselves downstairs, Gabriel sprawled on the couch while Sam and Dean glared down at him and Bobby cursed their sudden presence.

"I knew yeah, hoped differently though."

"Why would you know about Cas' migraines? It's a human thing bound to happen right?" Gabriel sighed, looked up at Sam and said, "Cas will experience these sort of things for the rest of his life, it's not just a 'human experience' with him."

All three hunters stared at him.

Gabriel sighed and sat up straight, "Cas remembers everything from his time as an angel. _Everything_, Cas has lived a very, very long time. Was around before humans were even a microbe in the ocean."

"Jesus." Sam knew Cas had been old, but not _that _old.

"Well, he's got nothing to do with it, but I get what you're really trying to say." Sam rolled his eyes and Gabriel continued on, "Since he's human now, that's a lot of information to store in one little human brain. Human minds aren't built to hold that much, you guys are lucky our little Castiel is stubborn enough not to have gone insane because he very easily could have with all the info in there."

"Why did he chose to remember it all then?"

"Because it's Cas, you think he'd be happy with having certain things in his mind missing? Castiel always wanted to know everything, he was always too curious for his own good."

"And there's nothing you can do to stop this from happening?" Dean paused in the pacing he had started to glare at Gabriel as if it were all his fault.

"I wish there was something I could do, really. But there isn't, unless Cas wants to give up millions of years of memories, which he won't, there isn't a damn thing I can do. They won't happen consistently though, and hopefully not too often so you guys should be okay."

"So…what, he's-"

"Here Dean, let me put this in a visual for you." Gabriel stood in Dean's path and said, "Think of Cas' brain like a library. The shelves are stuffed full; books are piled on the floor around the shelves, on desks and on top of the books that are in the shelves, they're everywhere. Sometimes the books will overflow and topple over and that's when Cas will get a migraine. Okay?"

"Yeah, alright."

"There's not much I can do for him, except send him off to sleep so it'll be up to you guys to handle it." Before anyone could respond, Gabriel was gone and Sam was giving Dean his 'I'm so sorry' look. Dean rolled his eyes and headed back upstairs to Cas' room, probably to sit and mope about how this was his fault that Cas was going through all this since Cas had chosen Dean over Heaven.

Both Bobby and Sam rolled their eyes at Dean's retreating back. Sam went and turned on his laptop to begin researching home remedies for migraines.

When the sun began to set Sam could hear the quiet murmuring of voices upstairs and took it to mean Cas was awake finally. Sam crept up the stairs with a cup of tea in his hand, they'd discovered on Cas' third day of being human that he really couldn't stand coffee and instead preferred tea with a dollop of honey in it.

He let himself into Cas' room, still being quiet in case the migraine still lingered, Dean was leaning back against the headboard, Cas' head in his lap, Dean's fingers gently massaging Cas' temples.

"How are you feeling Cas?"

"Better, the pain is more manageable than earlier. Still hurts though." Sam nodded and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for Cas to sit himself upright until he handed him his tea. Cas sipped at it, sighed happily and muttered, "Thank you Sam."

"It's not a problem Cas." Cas shrugged, took another sip, "Thank you anyway, especially for earlier, the cold and the pills helped quite a bit."

"We'll figure out what helps and doesn't help so we can work it out for future migraines." Cas nodded, closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall, cup held loosely in his hands. Sam and Dean exchanged looks before Dean asked, "Sure you're going to be okay Cas?"

"I'm fine Dean."

"You're sure-"

"_Dean_."

"Alright. Just making sure." Cas sighed and said, "You don't have to stay up here with me." Dean and Sam exchanged glances again.

"Sure we do Cas; we take care of our family." Sam said, resting his hand on Cas' knee.

"And you're our family Cas." Dean finished, shooting Cas a grin when the former angel opened his eyes to look at them, giving them both his own shaky smile.


	2. Chapter 2

Yep, another so soon. Mainly because it's been written for several days now and it's been taunting me quietly while I've been working on _Sweet Tyranny_ (finally), so this is being posted already.

Hope ya like it!

* * *

Castiel can feel it, the familiar pounding in his head that had preceded the intense pain of his first migraine. He's not prepared for that sort of pain again, especially so soon after the first time, it'd only been two weeks.

He wasn't used to feeling this kind of pain, as an angel, pain had been an afterthought, something that could be healed away instantly, the only true pain he'd felt had been the kind inflicted on his true form by his brothers and demons. The steady, constant throb of agony had been new though, another first to be experienced in his frail, human form.

Sam and Dean had headed off on a hunt together a few days ago; Castiel had volunteered to say behind, help Bobby do research for other hunters out on cases. He was currently seated behind Bobby's desk, books open in front of him as he tried to hunt down the spell that would banish an elemental back to where it belonged. That's when he'd felt the ache behind his eyes, the pounding in his temples. He didn't want to have to endure this pain again, especially while he was alone.

Bobby had gone off on a supply run earlier, leaving Castiel to fend for himself for the better part of the day.

He rubbed a hand against his temple, gently massaging like Dean had done the first time this had happened and glared at the books in front of him. Usually he would be able to find what he was looking for with a thought, would be able to just _know_ but he couldn't, not now that he was human. Some information just wouldn't come forward from the jumble of memories, his thoughts were just _chaos_ and he didn't even know how to begin sorting through it all.

Castiel stood, giving up on the books for now, there was no great rush on the hunt, the hunter wasn't even there yet so he could take a moment and hunt down the Advil or Excedrin Sam had given him those weeks ago. He took the little pills and ambled around the house, thought about going outside but just looking out the window and into the bright light made the ache in his head worse.

Eventually Castiel found the proper spell, wrote it out and it's ingredients for Bobby to send to the hunter and retreated to his room, pulling the curtains closed and collapsing face first onto his bed. It was strange thinking that he had things that could be considered his own now. Technically, they were Bobby's things, but Castiel had been welcomed into Bobby's home, had been told this was his room to do with as he pleased.

Castiel must have dozed off at some point, he came to with a jolt when Bobby entered his room, "_There_ you are idjit! Been looking for you!" Castiel's hands immediately clapped over his ears, it was too loud, too bright, the pain was _immense_, worse than the first migraine had been. So, so much worse.

"Cas?" Castiel couldn't even think, let alone speak. It felt as if someone had taken a drill and shoved in through his forehead, boring straight into his brain. There was pressure _everywhere_; he almost thought his eyes would burst from their sockets if he dared to open them.

"Castiel?" He felt Bobby's wide, rough hand on his shoulder, shaking him gently. Nausea roiled up in his stomach, threatening to send his meager lunch onto the older hunter's boots.

"What's wrong Cas?" Castiel managed a groan and removed his hands from over his ears; he didn't dare open his eyes though, simply rubbed at his forehead. Bobby, the clever human that he was understood immediately what Castiel was going through. Bobby cursed under his breath, stood and tacked up the same blanket over the window that Sam had, darkening the room further. Castiel curled in on himself while Bobby disappeared downstairs, probably to get the ice pack that was in the freezer.

Castiel could feel his _heart_ beating in his head, each pulse echoed in the pressure in his forehead, his stomach rolled and twisted, there was _no way_ he could survive something like this. He heard Bobby returning up the stairs, talking quickly to someone on the phone, probably Sam or Dean. Castiel didn't want them cutting their hunt short because of him, they deserved this time together, deserved to do a simple hunt that didn't include words like 'apocalypse', 'Lucifer', 'angels' and 'demons'.

Faintly he heard Bobby kneeling down by the bed again, heard the familiar crack of an ice pack, felt the familiar cold against the back of his neck, shuddered at the contact and just wanted to _scream_ from the pain. Pain had always been abstract to him, found it easy to ignore with his grace cushioning the feeling, he'd experienced mild pain before he'd faced Lucifer and been killed again, but none of it had been this excruciating.

"How bad is the pain Cas?" Bobby, thankfully, had lowered his voice to a whisper. Castiel managed to lower his hands from his head, he wrapped one arm around his stomach hoping it would help settle the nausea, he didn't want to throw up. He didn't like throwing up, it was vastly unpleasant, this he had learned. His other hand gripped the edge of the blankets on the bed hard enough his knuckles turned white.

"On a scale of one to ten Cas, how bad is the pain." Castiel didn't understand, when would Dean, Sam and Bobby ever understand that Castiel just didn't _get_ these types of references? Something must have shown on his face because Bobby sighed and said, "One being a stubbed toe, ten being…oh, I don't know, being stabbed in the chest."

Castiel didn't _know_, he didn't have a vast knowledge of pain. He felt Bobby's hand on the back of his head, rough fingers kneading and stroking his scalp and hair. The least Castiel could do was guess, appease Bobby and give him something to work with. Surely, Bobby of all people could find something to help; Bobby always seemed to have the answer to everything.

Finally, Castiel managed to grit out, "Eight."

Castiel found himself praying, for relief. For Gabriel to come and take this pain away, send him into unconsciousness like he had last time, sending Castiel into sleep long enough for the migraine to fade into a manageable headache.

Gabriel didn't show though, Castiel didn't begrudge him; he was busy in Heaven, bigger things to worry about than his Fallen brother suffering a headache.

"We're going to take you to a doctor when the boys get back. You can at least get some pills to help with the pain that way." Castiel found himself shaking his head at Bobby's suggestion, managed to mumble, "Dean said I'm not allowed to take pills."

"I'm pretty sure if Dean saw you now he'd be shoving any pill that would help down your throat. He'll manage to live with whatever fear or insecurity has him thinking that. You don't need to suffer Cas; we'll find something to help." Castiel nodded and instantly regretted the movement. It seemed to be the final straw for his stomach. He rolled towards the edge of the bed, Bobby guided his head towards the edge, helped him aim for the trashcan that had been placed there.

Bobby's hand stroked up and down Castiel's back, offering some comfort as Castiel retched and emptied his stomach of the soup he'd had earlier in the day. Retched until there was nothing but bile and spit coming up, until he was simply dry heaving, coughing and sniffing miserably as he shook and his head throbbed mercilessly.

"Just kill me now Bobby, please. Just put me out of my misery." Bobby sighed and replaced the ice pack onto the back of Castiel's neck, Castiel laid there on the bed, cheek pressed into the edge of the mattress, trying to calm his stomach again.

"Not going to kill you, you idjit."

"Show mercy Bobby." He saw Bobby rolls his eyes in the gloom of the room and heard, "Quit bein' a drama queen."

Bobby stayed with him the remainder of the day, sitting against the headboard, careful not to move too much or make too much noise as it all set Castiel into a spell of retching and dry heaving and puking up nothing. Bobby stayed though, through it all, his hand a reassuring warmth on Castiel's back, ignored Castiel's protests when the hunter didn't move to answer the phone or the door. He simply stayed and for that, Castiel would be eternally grateful.

Night was falling and Castiel had managed to fall into a light doze despite the pain radiating through his skull. Bobby had never left, not even to go to the bathroom and Castiel knew he must be needing to do _something_ right about now, but his hand had remained on Castiel's back, gently soothing and comforting.

Castiel was about to drop off into another doze when he heard the door bang open downstairs, the sound of heavy boots thundering up the stairs sent a fresh spike of pain through his head and sent him aiming for the trashcan again.

Dean burst into the room, eyes wild with worry, he instantly stopped though when he saw Castiel bent over the trash can, retching miserably.

"Shit Cas, I'm sorry, completely forgot."

There was a sigh from behind Castiel and Bobby growled out, "Dean you idjit, he was finally settling down too." Dean frowned and moved further into the room, kneeling by Castiel's head, gently resting his hand on the overheated skin of his neck.

"We're gonna get you some help for this Cas, we'll take you to a doctor because this is crap, you shouldn't be this miserable." Castiel waved his hand in Dean's general direction, finally fighting off the waves of nausea enough to say, "Dean, you shouldn't have left your hunt."

"We were pretty much done, called in some other hunters to finish it up." There was a snort from the doorway as Sam quietly entered the room, he had removed his boots which Castiel was thankful for, and he held a new ice pack in his hands, which Castiel was even more thankful for.

"I hadn't even hung up the phone before Dean was turning the car around." Sam knelt on Castiel's other side, placing the ice pack on the back of his neck. Castiel shot Dean a weak smile when he grumbled, "Shut up, bitch. No one asked for your opinion."

"Bite me, jerk."

"You shouldn't have worried, I'll be fine."

"Cas, like we said before, you're family and we take care of family and there's no way you're fine." Castiel sighed at Dean who simply raised a challenging eyebrow at him. Castiel was too tired and in too much pain still to put up much of a fight so he simply mumbled, "Fine."

"We'll get this figured out and have you feeling better in no time Cas." Dean's hand moved to brush the hair from Castiel's sweaty forehead. Castiel simply watched him, wincing slightly as Bobby moved off the bed and Dean took his place. Dean laid closer than Bobby had, his legs and side a warm, solid length against Castiel's back. Sam returned to the room with some painkillers from the med kit, telling Castiel to just rest and let them take care of everything.

Castiel rolled over, draping himself over Dean's legs and allowed Dean's gentle fingers massaging his temples to ease him into peace.


	3. Chapter 3

So, I had a lot of fun writing Jimmy. So much fun I nearly forgot to add in a migraine...so if it seems a little...off...that's why. Too much fun.

Anyway, I hope you guys like it and enjoy it and what not, and thank you all for the reviews for this weird little thing! You can also thank **Susangel** for bein' my slavedriver and giving me deadlines for my fics, since I have so many damn ideas running around in my head it makes it hard to write what I've already got going lol.

So yeah, enjoy!

* * *

It was probably the strangest moment in Jimmy Novak's life. Even stranger than that Halloween party he'd gone to back in college, which was saying something.

He was sitting in a diner in South Dakota; Sam was sitting next to him in the booth, Dean across the table from Sam while Jimmy sat across from Castiel. It was like looking into a mirror, but then it wasn't.

Everyone was silent, Castiel and Jimmy just staring at each other while Sam and Dean occasionally exchanged worried looks before returning to focusing on not eating their food.

It was four months after the end of the end, four months since Jimmy had woken up, alone in his head, in his bed in his house with his wife pointing a gun at him with Dean Winchester on the phone. He'd been told everything that had happened; he remembered bits and pieces, nothing much after seeing Gabriel standing in a ring of fire in an abandoned warehouse. Safe to say he'd been pretty pissed off that he'd been exploded _again_ even if he didn't remember it, but that was beyond the point.

Now though, he'd finally decided to give Cas a chance at least. The former angel had kept to his promise of keeping his family safe and it wasn't like Castiel had done everything on purpose. He'd only be doing what he believed to be _right_ and how could Jimmy stay pissed at him for that? Doing what you had to do to save the world was just one of those things you couldn't hold over someone's head.

Finally, Jimmy said, "This is fuckin' weird."

Dean snorted into his drink, Sam chuckled and Castiel looked like someone had cut the strings holding him upright as he sank back into his seat with a sigh.

Jimmy didn't know what Cas was so nervous about, two months ago he'd finally called Cas, figured he could at least hear what he had to say for himself. Figured it was one of those 'right things to do'. One phone call had turned into another, and another and another, those phone calls turned into chats that lasted into the late hours of the night. They exchanged text messages, emails and even more phone calls.

Amelia wasn't too impressed by it all, Jimmy couldn't blame her, he was after all being best friends with the thing that had torn her life apart and taken her husband from her. It was just something Jimmy couldn't explain, he felt _complete_ when he talked with Castiel. Felt like the missing piece of the puzzle fell into place and he could breathe easier and be himself again.

Jimmy had been an only child, he'd grown up with his mother and father and his friends from school and church. Now there was Castiel, someone who was a friend but _more_. They'd seen each other's thoughts, shared the same experiences, seen and done the same things. Jimmy knew how Castiel's mind worked, knew how he thought and how he felt and Castiel knew the same of Jimmy. Knew Jimmy's fears and worries and how his mind could sometimes go off on tangents when he should really be focusing on the task at hand.

Jimmy had found a _brother_ in Castiel, and he didn't want to let that go, not after everything that had happened.

"So…this is awkward." Dean finally muttered. Cas sighed and pulled his milkshake closer, dragging the cherry that had been on top through the whipped cream before popping it into his mouth. Jimmy didn't miss the way that Dean's eyes followed the progress of that cherry as it went through the process of being licked clean and sucked on.

Jimmy smirked into his fries, noticed Sam doing the same into his sandwich and couldn't help the smile that spread when they exchanged looks.

"How long do you plan on staying Jimmy?" Sam asked. Jimmy shrugged and considered stealing the last of Castiel's milkshake. He'd quit his job not long after he'd been brought back so it wasn't like he was on a timeframe. He couldn't stand sitting behind a desk selling ad time anymore, something about being an angel's vessel through the end of times kind of changed how you looked at the world.

Cas glared across the table at Jimmy, tugging his milkshake closer to himself, Jimmy simply grinned at him and said, "I'll trade you some French fires."

"No."

"It's no use Jimmy, Cas loves himself some milkshakes." Dean smiled over at Cas who huffed out a laugh, slurped down the last of the milkshake and stole some of Jimmy's fries anyway. Jimmy grinned, he could get used to this.

* * *

The next day found Cas and Jimmy sitting in the living room of the house the Winchesters were in the process of fixing up. Most of the work was finished with; all that was left was the small things. Furniture for instance.

"You guys could have at least found a couch first thing." Cas looked over from where he'd been flipping through a book that looked older than Jimmy and shrugged. He seemed perfectly at home settled down on sleeping bags and thin cushions that served as their seating arrangements. Amelia probably would have fainted at how they were all living. Although Jimmy could remember his first apartment, he'd had old milk crates serving as a table, nightstand _and_ TV stand until Amelia had forced him to a garage sale to get proper furniture.

Sam and Dean had headed over to Bobby's for something or other; it had been lost on Jimmy, as he hadn't had his coffee yet. They'd called a few hours ago saying they were going on a supply run in the next town over and wouldn't back until late.

Cas sighed, snapped the book shut and tossed it over his shoulder before flopping over into the sleeping bags piled around him. Jimmy felt the urge to flop over on top of him, to hug and cuddle and do things that two men really shouldn't do together. It was how he treated Claire when she was feeling bored or sad or just…whatever. Cas wasn't Claire, Cas _technically_ wasn't his brother but he wanted to treat him like one and be treated like one. Just as long as they weren't as emotionally stunted as Sam and Dean, they could work it. He was sure of it.

Jimmy was sure Cas wouldn't mind, but he didn't know how well he would react, this was after all their first face-to-face encounter that didn't involve Cas being inside his head.

"To hell with it." Jimmy muttered, and did as he damn well pleased.

Cas grunted as Jimmy sprawled across him, Jimmy rested his chin on Cas' chest and shot him an innocent grin when Cas looked down at him, eyebrows raised.

"You look bored Cas."

"I am bored. I'm not sure what to do with myself; I've never been bored before."

"Welcome to humanity. Get used to bored, it pops up a lot." Cas grunted again and Jimmy was surprised when Cas brought up a hand and planted it into Jimmy's hair, fingers tugging gently on the dark strands.

"I take it that's one thing we have in common." Jimmy muttered, he loved having his hair played with; Amelia said he always reacted like a cat, humming and pressing into the touch. He couldn't help it that he enjoyed it as much as he did, hell of a way to relax.

"Yes, I like it when Dean does this."

"Is there…you know, anything going on between you and Dean?" Jimmy could just _feel_ Cas frown.

"I don't understand."

"Do you…_like_ him?"

"We are friends, yes."

"Well, do you…_like_ like him. More than friends?" Jimmy shifted so he could look up at Cas better, saw the furrowed brows and knew that Cas was trying to work out the nonsense Jimmy was spouting.

"I mean, do you want to be with him in a romantic way?" _Why was he talking about this?_

"I don't understand."

"Do you want to kiss him? Have sex? Do you…you know, _love_ him?" Jimmy caught the faint blush that crept up Cas' cheeks and grinned, he knew it!

"I don't think Dean feels-"

"Believe me Cas, Dean does, he's just…stunted, when you see him again do your little soul searching thing, you'll see." Cas nodded and they fell into silence. Jimmy was beginning to doze off a little, Cas was _really_ good with the whole hair thing, when Cas rolled him away and stood.

"Man, I was comfy."

"I'm going to make dinner." Cas said, nodding to himself and disappearing into the kitchen. Jimmy sighed and burrowed into the sleeping bags, he knew Cas could cook well enough without his help. Cas had called several times over the months asking for help since he knew Jimmy could cook well enough, they'd even exchanged recipes like some weird grandmotherly types.

Jimmy was working on dozing off again; he'd had a long ass drive to get here so you couldn't really blame him for being tired, when there was the sound of something breaking in the kitchen. Jimmy shot off the floor and headed into the kitchen before the sound had finished registering in his brain.

Cas was bent over double in the middle of the kitchen, the glass measuring cup he'd been carrying lying in pieces around his feet.

"Cas, you okay? What happened?" Jimmy headed over to him, mindful of the glass and rested a hand on Cas' shoulder. Cas pressed his hands to his eyes and let out a quiet moan, "Cas?"

"Jimmy." Cas clutched at Jimmy's shirt, eyes squeezed shut and breaths coming out in quick little huffs. What the hell was going on?

"Cas, c'mon, what happened? Are you okay?" Cas just moaned, tugging and clutching at Jimmy's shirt, he didn't open his eyes or say anything, just groaned and tugged. Jimmy didn't know what the hell was going on or what to do. He'd never seen Cas in this sort of pain before, well he had, but Cas had been an angel at that point.

"Cas, tell me what to do, what's wrong?" Cas didn't respond, but his knees buckled and Jimmy managed to grab him around the waist before he went down on the floor. With some difficulty Jimmy managed to get Castiel into the living room and down on the pile of sleeping bags. Cas curled up into a little ball, arms wrapped around his head like he was protecting something and didn't say anything.

Jimmy sighed and hunted around for his cell phone and called Sam when he found it.

"Hey Jimmy, what's up?"

"I don't mean to panic you or anything, but something seems to be wrong with Cas."

"Wrong how?"

"Does he make it habit to clutch at his head like a crazy person?" Jimmy heard Sam curse quietly and say something to someone in the background, probably Dean or Bobby.

"It's one of his migraines by the sounds of it; we're still pretty far away so you'll have to take care of him." Jimmy glanced over at Cas who was still curled up in the sleeping bags, arms over his head.

"Just tell me how to help him Sam."

"Get him into his room, keep it as dark and quiet as you can, there's some icepacks in the freezer, keep those on the back of his neck. We got him some pills not too long ago but he doesn't like to take them, he says they make him feel funny, but they help a lot."

"Alright." Jimmy hung up and turned towards Cas, he knelt down, rested a hand on Cas' shoulder, and whispered, "Let's get you to your bed Cas." Cas groaned shook his head, curling in on himself even more.

"C'mon Cas, much as I wish I could carry you I can't." Jimmy laid a hand on Cas' shoulder and pulled gently, trying to get him to unravel enough so Jimmy could get him up on his feet. With a groan, Cas uncurled, sat up and looked up at Jimmy through squinted eyes. Jimmy knelt enough to get Cas' arm over his shoulders then wrapped an arm around his waist and hauled him upright.

"Just don't puke on my shoes alright?" Cas grunted and they shuffled down the hallway behind the stairs into the room that was Cas'. Jimmy wasn't sure what he expected when he entered the room for the first time, something bare perhaps, since as an angel Cas hadn't understood the meaning of personal possessions.

Jimmy couldn't have been more wrong though. There were books _everywhere_, piled on the desk that was shoved into the corner, on the dresser on the opposite wall, in little stacks on the floor by the double bed that had been situated under the only window. There were maps and drawings hung up on the walls, clothes were scattered everywhere as if Castiel just tossed them over his shoulder from the closet when he couldn't make up his mind on what to wear. There were several blankets piled on the bed along with a fuckload of pillows, Jimmy didn't even want to know why Cas needed so many damn pillows.

"Jeez Cas, where'd you get so many damn books?" Jimmy asked as he guided Cas onto his bed. Cas collapsed into the mountain of blankets and pillows with a happy sigh, pulling everything over his head and burrowing into the pillows, Jimmy could see why so many pillows now. It must have been nice to just collapse into them all, Cas _did_ look comfortable.

"Sam and Bobby gave them to me." Cas muttered from underneath his pillows.

"Figures." Jimmy left Cas in his room after that, heading into the kitchen to get the ice pack from the freezer, he didn't need to worry about making the room dark since the sun was beginning to set, but he closed the blinds anyway when he returned to Cas' room.

Jimmy pawed through the blankets searching for Cas; he paused, chuckled and asked, "Where are you dude?" A hand popped out from underneath the blankets, nearly nailing Jimmy in the eye and took the icepack from Jimmy's hand. Jimmy sat himself on the edge of the bed, rested his hand on what he thought was Cas' back and returned to looking around the room.

Jimmy recognized the drawings as Cas' own, he could remember Cas mentioning the discovery of his joy for drawing, Claire had insisted on sending some charcoal pencils and a sketchbook for Cas on their birthday. In return Cas had sent a hand drawn family portrait of Jimmy, Amelia and Claire, it had been amazingly lifelike. Amelia had hung it up on the wall in their living room.

"Want me to get you a pill Cas? Sam said it would help."

"No. They make everything fuzzy."

"Kind of the point." Cas grunted from his cocoon of blankets and Jimmy stood and headed into the bathroom across the hallway from Cas' room and hunted through the cabinets until he found the medication. He shook out a pill, filled a glass of water and took it into Cas who had managed to pull the blankets down over his head.

"Just take it Cas, it'll knock you out and you can sleep through the pain." Cas sighed, nodded and held out his hand for the pill. Jimmy watched Cas swallow it down, took the glass from him and was about to stand to leave Cas to his slumber, Jimmy didn't even know what the hell to do with him to help him feel better.

Cas took hold of Jimmy's wrist, looked up at Jimmy with eyes that were so much like Jimmy's own, but then again _not_, "Stay?"

"You sure Cas? I don't want to make anything worse for you." Cas shook his head and tugged Jimmy back down. Jimmy sighed, nodded and set the glass down on the nightstand next to a picture of Cas, Bobby, Sam, Dean and Gabriel; it looked like it had been taken shortly after the end of the end.

"That's a nice picture." Jimmy muttered as he laid down beside Cas, Cas glanced over at it, nodded and kicked the blankets off himself with a growled, "Hot."

They stared at each other for a few minutes, Jimmy unsure of what was and wasn't okay to do. He wanted to help Cas feel better, but didn't know what would help him and what would cause him more pain. Finally, Jimmy sighed, shifted close enough to Cas to be able to run his hands through Cas' hair and whispered, "Let me know if I hurt you Cas."

"Feels good." Cas mumbled, he pressed his head into Jimmy's hand, much like Jimmy always did, and shifted his body closer to Jimmy's. It was starting to feel a little incestuous, Cas' arm draped over Jimmy's waist and their legs tangled together, but it was nice. Jimmy had always preferred hugs and kisses to words, felt it expressed things much better and there was really no chance of a hug being taken the wrong way after all.

Jimmy felt Cas' breathing even out as the pill kicked in and knocked him out, Jimmy considered pulling away and heading out into the kitchen to clean up the mess that had been made. But he was comfortable and warm and tired, so he closed his eyes and drifted off.

Jimmy woke to the sound of a camera going off and someone pulling a blanket up over him. He cracked an eye open to see Dean grinning at him from around his camera and Sam tucking the blanket in around him and Cas. Jimmy sighed, stretched a little and muttered, "Time is it?"

"Pretty late. How's Cas?" Sam sat on the opposite edge of the bed while Jimmy took inventory. He and Cas had shifted in their sleep, both tangled around each other and it would have been amazing if someone would have been able to point out who was who in the tangle of limbs. Cas' face was pressed against Jimmy's shoulder and Jimmy had had his own face pressed against Cas' neck.

"Got him to take a pill so he's down and out for the count."

"That's good." Sam stood and headed out of the room, leaving Dean smiling down at him.

"If you send that picture to anyone Winchester, I'll stab you in the neck and I'm not sure when I'd stop." Dean grinned, reached over to pat Jimmy's shoulder and said, "Don't worry Novak; your dirty, incestuous relationship is safe with me."

Jimmy only glared at Dean's back as he left, but he curled up with Cas again anyway, it was comfortable and it made him feel good and probably Cas as well. Who was he to take that away?


End file.
